BROKEN HEART

Jemima

Jemima Yola is a 23 years old girl, measuring 1m65. She is a slender girl with a dream figure. Also, she has a very beautiful face, but she is not at all aware of her assets. She has never thought of herself as beautiful, because of the infirmity she has on her face.

In her early childhood, when she was only 5 years old, she was the victim of a domestic accident. While she was playing with other children in the neighborhood, she unintentionally pricked a nail in her right eye. She received no medical attention. A few years later, she developed blindness and divergent strabismus in that eye.

Jemima has been subjected to daily taunts and insults from people around her since childhood because of her eyes, which has resulted in very low self-esteem. For some, she has boiled eyes and for others she has the eyes of a witch...to name but a few.

When she became aware that her eyes were different from those of others, she decided that day to never look people in the eye again, because she didn't want to be laughed at anymore. She always isolated herself from others for fear of being insulted, belittled and chased away because of this eye defect.

Only Anaëlle has been her friend since childhood. This girl with a heart of gold has always been there for Jemima and doesn't hesitate to put in her place anyone who tries to make fun of her in her presence.

(...)

Having already reached the age of love, she does not lack the willpower. The fact is that she just doesn't think she's beautiful enough for a man to be interested in her. "Besides, what man would like to have a woman with witchy eyes by his side?" she regularly asks herself.

When a man usually approaches her to court her, she pushes him away without thinking since she is very ashamed of her eyes... Most often, she thinks that she is simply not made for love.

No one can imagine how frustrating and painful it can be to carry a disability, especially when it is visible. Except, of course, for those who have it.

Because of all this, she is deeply heartbroken and sometimes feels like committing suicide, but she pulls herself together every time she thinks about her mom.

People are very cruel to her. In fact, even her fellow medical students who are supposed to bring a smile to the faces of patients later on, are the ones who hurt her heart through their taunts, insults and bullshit remarks repeatedly.

You know, you can be made fun of once and it's okay, but when it's done repeatedly and has been done since you were a child, life itself becomes a burden.

No one with a disability will ever find enough words to describe what they feel in their heart because of this and this is the case with this young girl. Every time she looks in the mirror, she bursts into tears because of this observed difference. She doesn't like herself at all and thinks she looks so awful

(...)

« Monday morning »

Being already awake, Jemima rushes to get ready to go to the central hospital where she is currently in internal medicine internship.

After sending a message to her loving mother to wish her a nice day, she enters her shower to take a bath. She comes out clean a few minutes later and picks up her big African dress that she is wearing.

She doesn't look at herself, she doesn't like to see the reflection of her eyes in the mirror.

She tries as much as she can to style her natural hair that has been blowing in the wind for about a month.

She then hastily takes her breakfast and looks in her bag to reassure herself that she has not forgotten anything. She exits her room, locks the door and starts walking briskly to the hospital.

--- IN PARIS ---

Caleb Williams

Caleb is a young orthopedic surgeon, 30 years old. He is the executive director of the Williams Hospital Foundation, located in Paris. French-Cameroonian with an exceptional physical beauty, Caleb is the kind of man that all women would dream of having, because apart from being handsome, he is full of money and has a heart on his sleeve. He is someone who knows how to care about the well-being of others. For him, the human being always comes before money. Nevertheless, he has never been lucky in love. Being from an extremely rich family, he has only been in a relationship with gold diggers. At the beginning, all of them are nice and seem to be perfect, but when he usually crosses the threshold of engagement, they show their true faces. This is the case with his current fiancee, Anissa.

Anissa doesn't want to do anything with her ten fingers since Caleb made her his fiancée. She spends all her time shopping. The only thing she knows how to do since that day is to squander her money. At first, she was the ideal girlfriend, but since she wears an engagement ring on her finger, she has radically changed. Her character over the past few months is causing Caleb to seriously question their marriage plans. More than anything, he wants a devoted, sincere and true woman like his mother and not a multi-faceted hypocrite. He has always wanted his marriage to be like his parents', because he believes in true love. Unfortunately, so far, love refuses to smile on him.

« Look, Anissa, if you think I'm going to give you my credit card again for your stupid stores, you've got another thing coming. For over 6 months now you've been refusing to work for some reason. You're really pissing me off and I'm sick of it » he said to Anissa who had just asked him for his credit card to go shopping.

« Honey, I promise I'll go back to work next month, I just needed some rest... » Replied Anissa.

Caleb sketches a smile of irritability and controls himself enormously not to explode. « It is the hospital which laughs at the charity! I'll repeat what I told you earlier, no work, no money. I am not your bank! And I hope you are prepared for the trip we have to make to Cameroon? »

« ... I'm not going there, I told you and I won't change my mind..." », she replies firmly.

« Okay, as you wish. » Says he before leaving without adding anything more. He sees well that she does not want to make any effort. Her behavior confirms more the doubts that he has since a few months on this relation and encourages him to take this decision to which he thinks since little.

Caleb met Anissa two years ago when she came to his hospital for her eyes. She didn't have any money to cover her medical expenses, so when he was in the eye department that day, seeing the severity of her condition, he decided to pay for everything. One thing led to another and the two lovebirds became a couple that year. Anissa, from a poor family and not wanting to study, Caleb decided to finance her training in aesthetics and opened a very large beauty salon in the heart of Paris.

Professor Williams Noah is the owner and CEO of the Williams Hospital Foundation and Dean of the Lille Medical School. His wife is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Paris Saclay. Belonging to the bourgeois class in France, the Williams have hotels and several other properties in the European Union, Asia and America. He met his wife Cynthia in Cameroon at a medical conference he attended. He was immediately captivated and marked by her beauty and later by her kindness and simplicity. After a year of dating, he finally made her his wife and returned with her to France. They have three children to this day, including Caleb and his twin brothers Thomas and Eloise. By mutual agreement, the whole family decided to spend a month's vacation in Cameroon. Caleb, tired of Anissa's behavior, secretly hopes to meet a nice girl during his stay in his mother's country.

--IN CAMEROON--

Ethan

Ethan is a 25 year old medical student. He is in Master 2 and is doing General Medicine. He is one of the people who constantly make fun of Jemima at school.

There is a rumor in the school that Jemima is still a virgin at her age. Ethan and his friends are constantly talking about it and making fun of her. So Ethan's buddies challenged him. Telling him that he couldn't do Jemima. Ethan is a gambler and a badboy, he's not one to give up on things like that. So he intends to flirt with Jemima in order to take up this challenge. She is not his style of girl, but just to show his friends that no girl can resist him, he is ready to court her and get her into bed. Having never slept with a virgin girl, he is not about to miss this opportunity.

From the top of his 1m81, which girl could resist him? So far there has never been one and it's certainly not with Jemima that it will start. He is a very beautiful man of face and body. His soft eyes and angelic gaze are capable of melting the most difficult girl on earth. He knows his assets and he intends to use them to achieve his goals. He is not only handsome, but he also comes from a very wealthy family. His father and mother are respectively dean of the faculty of medicine, neurosurgeon and director of the central hospital of Yaoundé. Ethan can therefore afford to do whatever he wants in the faculty because he is not at risk of being expelled or failing like the other students.

(...)

This morning, Ethan prepares to go to the central hospital because he is in internal medicine training. He does not intend to arrive on time like his classmates, in fact he does not care at all. After taking his bath and breakfast, he gets into his car and his driver drives him to the Messa district, where the hospital is located.

-----

At 12:30, the trainees leave the hospital to go to the faculty to continue with the theoretical courses...

As for Ethan, he doesn't want to go to class. All he wants to do is go home, but he can't because his parents will send a police officer to get him.

So he arrives in front of the lecture hall occupied by the Master 2s. Without dragging his steps, he enters and goes towards his friends who are sitting at the back. After a brief greeting, Brandon, his friend, decides to bring up the subject of Jemima.

« What's your final decision on the Master 1 girl there? », Brandon asks her.

Ethan laughs. « That girl with the weird eyes can't resist! ». He affirms with assurance.

« I bet doubly that she can, you can't get her into bed! » intervenes Dimitri, another of his friends, with a sly smile.

The teacher not being in the classroom yet, Ethan stands up, puts his hands in the pockets of his super cent pants and sketches a mischievous smile.

« Is this really a challenge? »

His two friends simultaneously answer in the affirmative. Ethan then speaks up.

« No girl can resist Ethan, this challenge I will take up with my head held high and you will be forced to compose for me during the normal session. » He finally concludes.

« Deal bro! » Replied his friends with a mocking look.

- ONE MONTH LATER -

The Williams made their way to Cameroon and settled into their residence in the Bastos district of Yaounde. Anissa has adamantly refused to accompany her fiance and his family. Caleb is heartbroken, realizing that he was the only one invested in their relationship and that his ex-fiancee never made the slightest effort to please him. But he stays strong, hoping to meet someone new while in Cameroon.

-----

For 02 weeks now, Jemima has decided to get into a relationship with Ethan. She is naively in love with him and does not know that he is with her only to take up a challenge. Ethan is so good at it that she can't even imagine such a thing coming from him. To do his dirty work, Ethan has rented an apartment in the Bastos district where he usually brings the girls for his sex parties. It is the place where he sees himself with Jemima. He can't show off with her since she's not his kind of girl.

Anaëlle Nabé

Like Jemima, Anaëlle is a young medical student. She is 24 years old and comes from an average family. Her father was orphaned, and Anaëlle was taken care of by her older brother Joël who lives in Spain. Her mother is a state-qualified nurse working in the city of Kribi. With her strong character, she doesn't let anyone walk all over her and this since childhood.

The two girls met at the elementary school in Kribi when they were younger.

That day, during recess, while all the students were playing in the yard, Anaëlle saw Jemima sitting alone in her corner.

Anaëlle went up to her and invited her to come and play with them, but Jemima refused. Surprised, she asked her why? Jemima told her that she didn't want her friends to make fun of her eyes.

Anaëlle had just entered the elementary school at that time, so she did not know what Jemima was saying. Nevertheless, Jemima promised to beat up the person who would try to make fun of her if she agreed to go and play with them. Jemima was not convinced and hesitated. Anaëlle insisted and finally gave in.

As soon as Jemima entered the stadium, many of her classmates booed at her. Some of them, however, left the stadium, not wanting to rub shoulders with Jemima "for fear that she would infect them with her disability," they said as they walked away. Anaëlle, who had never witnessed anything like this, was just sorry. One of their braver classmates pushed Jemima out of the stadium. Not knowing how to defend herself, she fell. Angered, Anaëlle, who had observed the scene, jumped on her and beat her up. She then helped Jemima to her feet and the two girls left the stadium. The two girls developed a friendship that has lasted to this day.

Anaëlle adopted her as her own sister, she would do anything to make Jemima feel happy. She finds her so beautiful, kind and very sweet... She would like her friend to be in a couple like the girls of her age and she prays to God to send her a good man, who will know how to love her as she is and who will help her to become aware of her assets.

-----------

1:00 p.m. announces the end of the internship in the odontostomatology department at the Yaoundé Central Hospital. The students leave the consultation rooms to go to the on-call room. Anaëlle takes off her white coat and puts it in her bag which she then carries. She leaves the hospital and goes to stop a cab that will take her to Bastos. She has no intention of going to class on this day. She has an appointment with Ethan in his apartment in Bastos. She does not like him and is in a relationship with him just for the money.

-------

She gets out of bed and wears her underwear. She quickly puts on her outfit and carries her bag. Ethan looks at her without saying anything. He gets up then, takes new banknotes in his wallet which he gives to her. All jovial, this one takes them and puts them in the external pocket of her purse. When she wants to turn the heels to leave, Ethan holds her hand...

« Remain still a little princess, I still want it...», he says by putting the hand on her breast and by wanting to kiss her.

« It is not question of it young man, my sister is waiting for me... », she removes her hand on her breast and leaves in haste.

--------

She must pass to visit Jemima, they were supposed to meet at 5 pm. So she is late by an hour. To apologize for this delay, she stops in a rotisserie and buys Jemima the pork meat with a yoghurt pot. She then stops a motorcycle to leave.

She knocks at the door and enters, Jemima who had her face plunged in her notebooks, raises her head and looks at her without saying a word. She is angry, her friend is late. With her, punctuality is de rigueur, after the hour, it is no longer the hour. Time is a very important commodity for her. Besides, her extremely busy schedule does not allow her to waste it.

« I know, I apologize for being late, sweetie... », says Anaëlle after taking her seat.

Jemima pouts, she does not answer. She immediately looks back into her anatomy book. To attract her attention, Anaëlle opens the bag containing the meat she has kept for her...

« There are some here who are not going to eat this delicious braised pork at all... » she declares, looking at her to see how she will react.

Jemima loves pork. So she gets up and goes to snatch the bag in question with a slight smile on her face. Anaëlle laughs while her friend takes a plate in which she pours all the meat. After washing her hands, she takes a seat and starts to taste.

« Where have you been? », Jemima asks as she chews her meat.

« At a guy's house... »,

« Okay, that's fine, never mind... », Jemima interrupts her...

It's been more than a month since they last met because of their busy schedules. So they take the opportunity to do the updates. They tell each other everything! except that Jemima misses by omission to tell her girlfriend that she recently got in a relationship...

(...)

The phone and the comb in her hand, she takes place on her small stool. Anaëlle gets up to braid her hair. The two girls are still chatting and laughing out loud when the opportunity arises. Jemima receives a text message, she looks once more in her phone and smiles after reading it... Her sister speaks to her, she does not answer. Lost in her thoughts, she does not listen to her. Her sister taps her on the shoulder and she finally comes out of her reverie. Curious, Anaëlle decides to find out what is going on. Jemima hesitates if she should tell her or not. Anaëlle insists and she decides to let it go.

« I have a boyfriend! » she says.

Anaëlle, believing she is dreaming, instantly stops braiding her hair and goes to stand in front of her to look at her. If this information was true, she would be very disappointed in her girlfriend. Because it would mean that she had hidden it from her voluntarily.

« Wait, what are you coming to say », hands on hips, she asks to reassure herself...

To Jemima to reiterate that she is in couple... As expected, Anaëlle gets angry and takes place in the bed. Very bewildered, she looks at her friend without saying a word. The information in itself doesn't bother her, on the contrary she is very happy that her girlfriend could take this step. Nevertheless, it is the fact that this one hid it to her which disturbs her. Jemima, who has her eyes on her, smiles, she knows that her girlfriend is very angry with her. But is it her fault? No. The girls have done a month without seeing each other and this kind of thing, she did not want to tell him through a phone.

She immediately speaks up to apologize and explain herself...

« You have weird reasoning, if you told me over the phone what would it have changed? », Anaëlle said, her face devoid of any understanding.

« Actually, I... » she tries to explain further. But her girlfriend interrupts her.

« Anyway, let's drop it! » Who is he and does he treat you well? "She hastened to ask.

Having a lot of experience with men, she wished Jemima had told her about him while the guy was still hitting on her. Then she would have judged whether the guy's intentions were good or not. Knowing her sister, she wouldn't want her to be taken in by a dream salesman, it would kill her. So fragile she is, and Anaelle would like to keep her from that. But isn't it getting late already?

« Uh,...it's someone from college, he treats me well and... » she stops short. She doesn't want to tell him who it is. Ethan asked her to. Ignorant and naive, she promised him not to tell her sister.

Anaëlle blinks twice in a row, waiting for her sister to tell her who this young man is. But she looks at her without saying anything. She doesn't want to break the promise she made to her boyfriend.

« ... He's in college, yes I understood. But who is he? Do I know him? » insists Anaëlle.

« Yes, you know him. But... » retorted Jemima.

« Why won't you tell me who he is? » She asks worriedly.

« I will tell you, but later... »

Anaëlle does not insist, after all her sister is a big girl. Nevertheless, the latter is worried and she senses that this relationship will send her sister into an abyss where only God will be able to pull her out. She is already a broken girl because of her infirmity, and if her boyfriend were to be a bad boy, then it is likely that Jemima would come out of this relationship completely broken and even in a coffin. Having been with her for several years, she knows her better than anyone else on earth. She respects her decision and decides to investigate to find out who this famous boyfriend is. And when she looks at her sister, she understands that she is already in love.

"Caleb Williams"

Since they arrived in Cameroon, they had done nothing but take tourist trips. Caleb had almost forgotten what it was like to be in Africa. The last time he was in Cameroon was over 15 years ago when his grandmother passed away. He was just a teenager at the time. He finds the country beautiful and the people very sociable and courteous.

While his entire family went on a tourist trip to the city of Kribi last night, Caleb was very tired and decided to stay in Yaoundé to rest.

------

It's 12 o'clock when Caleb wakes up, he gently rubs his eyes with his fingers before opening them. Still sitting in his big golden bed, he subtly runs his hand through his beautiful hair to put it back in its place... Little by little, sadness does not fail to invade his heart when he thinks of Anissa and the fact that once again, he was wrong about the woman he shared his life with. Nevertheless, he does not intend to let this wound spoil his stay in this country, so he must continue to be strong.

Standing up, he nonchalantly walks towards the large windows at the other end of his room, pushes the curtains aside before opening the bay window. He is greeted by this light warm wind which comes subtly to caress his face. A magnificent smile does not fail then to be drawn on its pretty red pulpy lips. He observes in the distance children who are playing on the asphalt road. It does not fail to remind him the silly things he did when he was their age.

« How stupid! » He thinks, it makes him smile more.

He turns around and heads for his bathroom. Once clean, he goes downstairs to the living room and asks the cleaning lady to get in the kitchen to prepare his lunch. About thirty minutes later, he sits down to eat.

----

The big clock on the wall of the Williams' living room shows 3 p.m., Caleb sitting in his sofa is getting bored. For more than thirty minutes he has been flipping through the TV looking for something he could watch to entertain himself. Having found nothing to his liking, he goes back to his room. The emotion of boredom is growing inside him, however, because he doesn't know what to do to entertain himself. So he begins to regret not having gone to Kribi with his family. Lying in his big bed with a surgery book in his hand that he is trying to read, an idea comes to his mind. He gets up and puts on presentable clothes before heading to the parking lot where he gets into his car.

He drives to the gate, the guard gets up to open it for him. Oops, he almost forgot to contact the tourist agency to ask them to assign him a tour guide for a little walk in the city... Having received a favorable answer, he stays in his vehicle waiting for the guide. 45 minutes later, the guide arrives at the Williams' residence and Caleb gives him the wheel of his car.

« Do you have any idea where you'd like us to revisit first? » the guide asks in a voice full of respect.

« Uh...Yeah, let's go to UHC please. »

---

In front of the gate of the University Hospital of Yaoundé 1, the guard asks the guide why he would like to enter the hospital. Caleb, in the back of the car, intervenes and presents him with his official documents without failing to explain his motivation to gain access. The latter apologizes for having embarrassed a health staff and opens the gate at once. He shows them from afar where the parking lot is.

The first time he and his family visited this hospital, it was a cursory visit. So Caleb came back on this day to sort of deepen his visit.

Inside the UHC, the guide slowly leads him to each department. With a smile on his face, Caleb did not fail to say hello to the patients in the different departments. The guide suggested that he visit the prestigious Faculty of Medicine, which is right next to the University Hospital.

He accepts and the guide leads him towards the corridor which leads directly to the faculty. On the way, Caleb sees a building isolated from the other buildings of the hospital. From afar, he realizes that the said building is very dilapidated...

« Which department is that over there? » Caleb asks, pointing to said building.

« Oh, that's the old psychiatry department, it's now ... », tries to answer the guide.

« ...Near the surgery department, yes I remember. » interrupted Caleb.

« Why don't you visit it before you go to the faculty? », he added.

« It hasn't been functional for over five years and I think it's very unsanitary for you... » Retorts the guide to stop him.

« I am not a super human Rodrigue, reassure you! », declares the doctor with a warm smile on his lips. He immediately starts to move forward.

Once in the building, Caleb moves forward opening the doors of each room to see what is there.

-----

A few feet away from where the two are now, a young woman's voice, crying, suddenly reaches their ears. They look at each other surprised. Instinctively, Caleb moves forward by pressing the step towards the origin of the voice. Thinking that the person is a patient who perhaps escaped of some service of the hospital center...

In front of the glass door, he sees a silhouette of a woman sitting on the floor with her face between her legs. She has turned her back to the door. Next to her, there is a black backpack on the floor. The state of the floor being very dirty, Caleb wonders inwardly what is going on and pushes at the same time the door to enter. The creaking of the door makes the person sitting in that room instantly get up and turn to see who is this person who just violated his privacy. Immediately, she wipes the tears that had filled her pretty round face and picks up her bag with the intention of getting out of that room in a hurry. She is so ashamed that this man looking like a mannequin found her in such a shabby state. If she had been in possession of supernatural powers, she would have preferred to disappear. Unfortunately, she did not.

Caleb as for him is brutally struck by her natural beauty that he forgets his state of discomfort... He tries to place a word, but he does not succeed... He tries to look at her in order to meet her glance, but this last has the glance everywhere except towards him.

Seeing what she is about to do, Caleb quickly pulls himself together and tries to stop her.

« Uh..., sorry, but can't you get out of here in this condition? You're not well...And... »

Jemima doesn't listen to him and quickly presses her way out. Caleb asks his guide to go for a walk. As soon as this last leaves the room, Caleb closes the door at once by preventing Jemima from leaving. This one does not say a word and frantically puts the hand on the wrist to open it. Caleb strongly seizes her hand and this one struggles in vain so that he leaves her.

She is not well and Caleb as a doctor does not want to let her leave in this state. He would like at least that she calms down before leaving. She stops struggling and goes to take place on a table bench. She makes a superhuman effort not to cry, defeated, the tears start again to flow of her eyes. Taken of empathy, Caleb decides to go to take place on the seat which is right in front of her. He says nothing and observes her as if he wanted to probe her...

15 minutes later, Jemima stops crying and wipes her eyes. She feels Caleb's heavy look on her and she doesn't have the courage to look up.

« I'm calm, can I go now? », Jemima asks with a downcast look.

« Yes, if and only if you look at me! » retorts Caleb innocently.

She shudders in his bosom and with a sudden gesture, she gets up to leave.

« I can't look him in the eye, plus who does he think he is to give me this condition? Is this his hospital? Pff! » she asked herself inwardly.

He doesn't understand why she reacts so abruptly, what did he say wrong? Why doesn't she want to look at him? « She's weird this chick, I just want to see the color of her eyes. » He thinks.

Caleb stands up at the same time and grabs her hand firmly. By reflex, Jemima instinctively raises her eyes and looks at him in a split second before lowering her gaze afterwards. Caleb still had time to see her eyes, he finds her beautiful. He was almost electrified by her glance, so much it is beautiful, in spite of his divergent squint.

« They are brown your eyes! » He declares while continuing to devour it of the glance.

« You make my hand hurt Sir, » declares Jemima by ignoring his remark.

He loosens then his hold

« I must go to class, I would not like to be late... » Adds Jemima so that this last leaves it.

« I don't mind dropping you off if you don't mind. » He states hoping that she accepts.

« No need, it's right back here! » She retorts curtly.

« Too bad, I would have liked to keep you company longer. Can I have your contact? Please. »

« No! », she retorted in a firm tone.

« ...Please! », again, he asks more tenderly.

Jemima, seeing that he is not ready to let her leave without this number, decides to give it to him to get rid of him. Caleb lets go of her arm and she leaves the room almost running. What makes him smile.